1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to farm equipment drawn by a separate vehicle, and more particularly to a trailer for lifting, moving, handling, and unrolling bales of feed or bedding, especially those of circular conformation.
2. Description of Related Art
The following art defines the present state of this field:
Hedgespeth, U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,148 describes a large round hay bale trailer having a fork lift cradle pivotally mounted on a two wheel trailer frame, the cradle being formed by pipe having a 90 degree vertical and horizontal bends to provide fork, back support and horizontal connecting elements. Laterally extending pipe sections welded to the cradle pipe provide pivotal bearings for a horizontal wheel axle pipe to which trailer frame elements are also secured.
Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,505 describes an attachment for the three-point hitch of a farm tractor including a generally vertically disposed, inverted U-shaped frame having outwardly extending lower ends connected to a pair of lower lift arms forming part of the three-point hitch of the tractor. The top portion of the frame is pivotally and longitudinally adjustably connected to a telescopically adjustable stabilizer link or bar having its forward end pivotally connected to the usual attachment point of the stabilizer link of a three-point hitch assembly provided on a farm tractor. The outer end of the stabilizer bar includes a transverse sleeve by which various devices including a round hay bale moving device can be pivotally attached. The upper surface of the longitudinally movable component of the telescopic stabilizer bar is provided with a rigid lug to which a hydraulic ram can be pivotally connected with the other end of the hydraulic ram being connected pivotally to the hay moving device or other device attached to the outer end of the stabilizer bar.
Clay, Sr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,597 describes a one man round hay bale lifter and transport device for quick assembly and disassembly to a conventional trailer hitch mounted on a pick-up truck. The lifting and transport device includes an anchoring structure and a hay bale lifting and holding structure pivotally mounted on the anchoring structure. The rearward end of the anchoring structure includes a square tube for quick assembly with the square tube of the conventional trailer hitch. A ratchet binder is pivotally mounted on the anchoring structure at one end and on the hay bale lifting structure on the other end. By manually rotating the ratchet handle mounted on a threaded sleeve of the ratchet binder, the lifting structure is elevatable to a maximum angle of about 45. degree with respect to the anchoring structure. A stop bar engages an edge of the anchoring structure to limit further elevation or lowering of the lifting structure. The lifting structure includes at its front end a pronged fork assembly for engaging and lifting the hay bale upon elevation of the lifting structure. Once a hay bale is elevated, the truck is driven to transport the hay bale to a desired location where the operation is reversed to drop off the transported hay bale.
Barker, U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,924 describes a new Round Bale Handling System offering a simple inexpensive device for lifting and unrolling round bales. The inventive device includes a frame, a lifting shaft, two tow chains, and a roll shaft. In use, the farm tractor 4 is backed up and the lifting shaft 30 is forced longitudinally axially into a round bale 2. The farm tractor's hitch is then used to lift the round bale 2 and the round bale 2 can be hauled by the farm tractor 4 to any desired location. When the round bale 2 has been placed, the farm tractor 4 is then relocated around and backed up to the round bale 2 so that the farm tractor 4 is normal to a rolling axis of the round bale 2. The roll shaft 50 is then pushed through the round bale 2 along its rolling axis and the tow chain 40 is rotatably attached to the roll shaft 50 by use of the retaining pin 56 and the hair clip pin 58. The farm tractor 4 then pulls the roll shaft 50 and the round bale 2 rotates about the roll shaft 50 and unrolls as it does so.
Bales, U.S. Pat. No. 5,833,424 describes a hand operated hay bale lifter having a size and weight that can be handled by one person and including a square coupling bar that can be quickly and easily inserted into the receiver pocket of a standard tow bar trailer hitch. Mechanical lifting force produced by a hydraulic jack assembly is transferred to a fork assembly through a contact coupling provided by an open bearing cup or socket mounted on the fork assembly. The hydraulic jack assembly includes a hand pump, a hydraulic power cylinder and a piston rod mounted on an outboard support stub. The bearing cup or socket rotates in sliding engagement against the piston rod during extension and retraction. Because the piston rod and fork assembly are coupled by contact engagement only, the fork assembly can be quickly elevated by hand and locked in an upright travel/storage position.
The prior art teaches the moving of hay bales by means of piercing the bales with spikes and then rotating the bales into a preferred attitude for transport. However, the prior art does not teach an advantageous positioning of a rest surface so that the CG of a lifted and transported bale is advantageously placed. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.